Crocheting with Wire

Due to some questions and the amount of surprise I have been getting, I want to talk about crocheting with wire. In my opinion, it's no harder than crocheting with anything else. Since I crochet with fabric, yarn, tulle, plastic, wire, raffia and anything else I touch, I feel pretty confident about that!

First off: it is vital try different wire. Wire varies not only from the metal, but the color as well. I learned quickly that the higher the value, the thicker the wire. The thicker the wire, the harder it is to work with as it is not very malleable. Too thin and then the wire breaks at totally inappropriate intervals. Gold is fairly delicate, and copper seems to be quite resilient.

Gold wire necklace with blue seed beads. Very delicate & lovely.

 I don't worry much about shaping until the end. It is a very delicate process that requires a gentle hand.You can easily flatten a piece with flat pliers if you want to, though to pull up or apart, I prefer to use the round end of the hook.

Love colored wire!

 It's fun to experiment and see what works best for you. The most important aspect of wire work besides wire is your equipment. I use plastic hooks for many things, but not wire work. I prefer the smaller, metal hooks which are pretty easy to find and take some patience to get used to. You would also do well to take breaks when working on pieces like the one above. Those tiny hooks can cause some cramps....

See? Those are some pretty small hooks!

As with anything, you will want to have the fundamentals down before you dive into wire, so make sure you can make a loop, chain, etc. Then, just let your imagination go wild!

What is your favorite material to crochet with?